Silicon Differential Receiver With Zero-Biased Balanced Detection for Access Networks

Aamer Mariam, Sotiropoulos Nikolaos, Brimont Antoine Christian Jacques, J.M. FEDELI, DELPHINE MARRIS-MORINI, Cassan Eric, LAURENT VIVIEN, Gilbert karen, Grosse Philippe, Hartmann Jean Michel, Vermeulen Diedrik, Roelkens Gunther, Sanchis Kilders Pablo, ANDREAS HAKANSSON

2013

IEEE Photonics Technology Letters

We present an optimized differential receiver in silicon with a minimized footprint and balanced zero-biased Ge photodiodes. The receiver integrates a delay-line with a 2 × 4 multimode interferometer 90° hybrid and two balanced photodiodes for differential quadrature phase-shift keying demodulation. Two receivers are tested, for 10 and 20 Gb/s operation, and well opened eye-diagrams and symbol constellations are obtained with error vector magnitude values as low as 12.5% and 19.57%, respectively. The results confirm the potential of integrated silicon receivers to become key building blocks for future passive optical access networks based on advanced modulation formats.